Expressive art therapy activities are a great outlet for self-expression, self discovery, and for understanding your thoughts and feelings in a productive and creative way. They can help promote psychological growth, mental well being, and even inner healing. In addition, they can help you articulate your inner thoughts and worlds easier when words may not be enough. Here are 10 easy and relaxing expressive art therapy activities to get your creativity flowing that you can start with right now!

10 Easy Expressive Art Therapy Activities

1. Draw Your Feelings

Are your emotions calm, happy, anxious, upset, or something else? Draw how you’re feeling in the moment. Your art can be abstract or something a bit more recognizable. You can use colors that best represent your emotions and if you’re stuck on what to make, you can always sketch something that represents those feelings for you. Whatever is easiest for you.

Drawing helps calm me down and feel more relaxed, so I drew different types of waves below. The top is a sun against the sea while the bottom 2 images are my interpretation of waves.

Try your best to draw that out on paper. It’s a great exercise to understand your feelings.

2. Draw What Makes You Feel Happy

On of the many expressive art therapy activities out there, is to think of a fond memory of a place, person, or thing you enjoy. You can express your personality through drawing things with joyful connotations because it helps you dive deeper into a positive space while helping you recognize what brings you personal delight and contentment.

The image above is a sketch of the trolley station at Disneyland.

For more feel-good art therapy prompts, check out these 10 Positive Art Inspiration Ideas for Drawing!

3. Use Your Favorite Colors

A great way to express yourself through art is by simply using your favorite color(s) to draw. Drawing with your favorite color really shows off your personality and an aspect that makes you unique.

Blue is my favorite color, so I combined that with one of my favorite subjects to draw a rough city-scape.

Try not to focus on making a perfect artwork but instead on the process and how it makes you feel. Make your art as rough or complete as you’d like!

Try combining your favorite color with a subject that makes you feel happy.

4. Nature Drawing

Drawing nature is not only relaxing but gives us a feeling of freedom and tranquility. Also, sketching nature and foliage is very gestural, allowing you to put more fluidity and movement into your art, helping you to further express yourself with physical movements.

What in nature appeals to you? Is it the puffy clouds you see in the sky, the cool grass against your feet, or the flowers and trees you see on your way to your next stop?

Whatever speaks to you and your emotions, draw it!

If you’d like more relaxing drawing ideas of nature or how to draw nature art, check out How to Draw Easy Pen Flower Doodles for Beginners, How to Draw a Tree Branch Freehand, or How to Make Palm Tree Drawings for Beginners.

5. Draw Your Favorite Animal

Animals are just so cute and awesome.

What’s your favorite animal? Or is there an animal that you feel best represents your personality? Like in #3, try sketching it in your favorite color. And no pressure on getting it to look right!

It can really help you get a better sense of your personality based on the types of animals you like while calming you, as animals normally bring joy.

6. Illustrated Text

Drawing text and words is a great expressive art therapy activity that’s simple, fun, and the possibilities are endless!

It helps in not only drawing out your feelings in recognizable words but puts a physicality to them that you can actually see, helping you to express your feelings and understand your thoughts.

Try drawing words in different styles, colors, or even with some small doodles. Make it your own!

7. Draw Movement

Movement in itself is beautiful. You can draw something that looks like it’s moving, while still being abstract or vague.

Drawing the idea of movement not only captures your physical hand movements on a page but brings you’re drawings to life. It helps express the way in which you make art and can even capture your emotions, allowing you to be self expressive while relaxing your mind, as this is a mindfulness exercise with no definitive stopping point.

To illustrate movement, try sticking with large strokes using your entire arm, not just your wrist. Focus on making curved and flowy lines instead of straight and scratchy ones. And try to fill up the entire page, not just one small section! This will enhance your art making it look more fluid and gestural.

For more easy and relaxing gestural drawing ideas, check out these 5 Insanely Easy & Calming Drawing Ideas of People for Beginners & Non-Artists.

8. Free Drawing

One of my favorite expressive art therapy activities is to ‘free draw’. Free drawing is when you allow your hand to guide you while creating art without actively thinking or preparing to draw anything it particular.

It’s a calming mindfulness exercise that brings you into the present while focusing on ‘going with the flow’. It doesn’t have a particular focus but has room for a lot of happy accidents.

Here are some more free drawing art therapy activities for stress management and art therapy activities for aggression.

9. Make a Self Portrait

If you have a hard time trying to think of how to express yourself in art, a great idea is to draw yourself. What better way to express and show yourself in a way that best represents you, with an artwork of you?

It can be as detailed or simple as you like and doesn’t even have to be of you-maybe things you like?

You can make your self-portrait more personalized by using your favorite materials or colors.

Check out this article of the many different types of self-portraits you can create, if you don’t know where to start.

10. Sketch Your Personality

Now, I want you to think about your personality for this next expressive art therapy activity. What type of person are you? What makes you unique? Are you funny, an extrovert, or more of an introvert?

Now, try drawing that personality on paper.

If you’re having a difficult time trying to sketch that, try looking at shapes and patterns. What pattern best represents you?

I chose a 90s pattern with bright colors because I can be spontaneous but also all over the place sometimes. My thoughts can get pretty cluttered but I love colorful things and different types of random shapes.

Try finding a pattern that you feel best shows off your personality and draw it!

More Expressive Art Therapy Activities & Drawing Ideas:

• Meaningful Art Therapy Activities for Couples to Strengthen Your Relationship | Post
• Calming Art Therapy Activities for Stress Management | Post
• 15 Relaxing Simple Art Therapy Activities for All Skill Levels | Post
• 7 Calming Art Therapy Activities for Aggression | Post
• 15 Anxiety Art Therapy Drawing Activities to Help You Feel Calm Now | Post
• Download 9 Free Mood Boosting Art Therapy Drawing Activities for Anxiety | Freebie
• Free Printable Stress Relief Cheat Sheet | Freebie
• 10 Euphoric Drawing Art Therapy Prompts to Stop Racing Thoughts | Post
• Natural Stress Relief with Drawing for Beginners & 7 Ways It Halts Stress | Post

• The Difference Between Traditional Art Expression vs. Expressive Art Therapy | Post
• 10 Effortless Art Inspiration Ideas for Drawing to Get You Started Now | Post
• 15 Quick Doodles to Draw When You’re Bored | Post
• 5 Easy & Relaxing Drawing Ideas of People for Beginners | Post
• How to Draw the Sun with 40 Sun Designs & Brighten Your Day | Post

Feel free to share these expressive art therapy activities on social media or try to come up with your own! See you in the next post.